Walgreens finding hostile home turf

Drops plans for store in back yard

January 15, 2005|By Robert Channick, Special to the Tribune.

The nation's largest drugstore chain may call Deerfield home, but Walgreen Co. dropped plans for a store in its own back yard after neighbors complained that drive-through pharmacy service would be too noisy.

Homeowners who live near the site had concerns about everything from the sound of cars and traffic to amplified prescription orders.

The drugstore wouldn't have been like a fast-food restaurant with 30 or 40 cars lining up, said Walgreens spokeswoman Carol Hively.

"Typically at a Walgreens you'll see one or two cars at a time," she said. "We try not to be very loud. When the person working at the pharmacy is talking to the patient, typically it's not like yelling an order for fries."

After residents protested to the Village Board, the drug company announced on Dec. 15 that it had dropped plans to build the store at Cadwell's Corners, a struggling strip mall at Lake-Cook and Waukegan Roads.

More than 80 percent of nearly 4,700 Walgreens stores nationwide have drive-through pharmacies, including the only Deerfield location, which is at Waukegan and Deerfield Roads.

Of the 450 stores projected to open this year, nearly all are slated to have a drive-through, said Hively, adding that privacy concerns dictate discreet transactions.

Unconvinced, some residents of Deer Run, an upscale subdivision near Cadwell's Corners, said they were worried that noise would carry into their neighborhood.

Marvin Kogan, 55, lives on a cul-de-sac that backs up to the mall near where the drugstore would have been.

"It's like McDonald's; depending upon weather and how loud a person is talking, you can clearly hear what somebody is ordering," he said.

Losing Walgreens is the latest setback for the nearly vacant strip mall behind a gas station and a tire store at the busy intersection.

Purchased in 2000 for more than $8.2 million by Park Ridge developer Newcastle Properties, the center has struggled since both Office Depot and Barnes & Noble left for new Deerfield locations nearly four years ago.

Under previous owners, Cadwell's Corners endured a troubled history including bankruptcy, ownership changes and vacancies, said Village Manager Bob Franz.

"This seems to be just a problem corner that has had a tough time from day one," Franz said.

"Walgreens was going to be one of the cornerstones of this and obviously the catalyst to lease other space," said John Gross, 53, a principal with Newcastle.

Three years ago, Newcastle signed a lease to build a Dominick's grocery store in the location once occupied by Office Depot. Deer Run neighbors helped torpedo those plans as well, expressing concerns about delivery truck noise, garbage and vermin, Gross said.

After the Dominick's proposal was shelved, the village passed an ordinance requiring a special-use permit for all retail stores over 10,000 square feet, which chased away two independent grocers interested in the property, Gross said.

"We've kind of been stymied at every turn here," said Gross, who estimates he spent more than $100,000 on the failed proposals. "The interests of a few are holding sway over the interests of the many."

Although he's disappointed the Walgreens proposal failed, Franz rejected the notion that the village thwarted the developer.

"We'd like nothing better than for that to be a viable center," Franz said. "The lack of sales tax hurts us. [Newcastle] had an opportunity to try and convince the Plan Commission and the Village Board, and they didn't do either."